Road plans get reviewed

Cass commission grapples with what services to provide.

Cass commission grapples with what services to provide.

February 09, 2008|BARBARA DEMPSEY Tribune Correspondent

CASSOPOLIS -- The five members of the Cass County Road Commission Board struggled this week with planning for reduction in road services in the wake of the recent countywide millage defeat for road funding. Right now, it appears the main issue is figuring out how to create an internal working budget document that can easily show how much cash the road commission has on hand and when it has it. And that's because, given the format that the state requires road commissions to follow in budgeting, cash flow information is not so transparent. However, because the road commission recently invested in new accounting software, officials say they will be able to look at specific budget details whenever they want to look at them, once the system is fully set up. The board agreed to road commissioner Louis Csokasy's suggestion that a two-member finance committee be formed to study the budget on an ongoing basis and make recommendations to the board. He and road commissioner Roger Bowser will serve on the committee. Csokasy says part of the problem in figuring out how to reduce the budget is that the document prepared for the state is complicated and difficult for most people to understand. Csokasy noted that the road commission approved a budget for 2008 that shows expenditures of $7.8 million against revenue of $6.4 million. "If you subtract those, the general fund should decrease by $1.4 million," he said. But since he doesn't see that revenues will increase, he said he doesn't have a problem "if someone can explain how in the future the commission will operate with those numbers." He is not advocating that the commission keep two separate sets of accounting books. "There can be only one set of books as dictated by the Department of Treasury," he said. "What I am advocating is taking that (information) and putting it into a different format." The commission's engineer-manager, Joe Bellina, provided a synopsis of what the road commission is required to do by law, to provide direction to the board as it is forced by financial constraints to reduce services. By law, he said, the road commission is required to maintain the existing road system. And he said the courts have interpreted that to mean the maintenance of the traveled portion of the roads. "Many things the road commission does is not because the law requires it but because it is desirous to the local community," he said. For example, road crews are not required to remove deer carcasses from in front of residents' property, to pick up trash along the roads, or to plow snow. And several changes in operations are being given a look. Those include restricting overtime for plowing the local road system that is maintained by individual townships and villages. Those also include streets in subdivisions. He also suggested that perhaps no overtime be paid to plow snow on local roads unless snow accumulations reach 4 or 5 inches, although he said that ice "must be dealt with." Recently appointed road commissioner LeRoy Krempac suggested acquiring policies from other counties regarding snow removal, as he noted that those policies vary. "Some don't plow for 2 inches (of accumulation). Some don't plow for 8 inches, and some don't plow subdivisions on weekends," he said. Former commission chairman Bob Powers noted the differences in counties regarding local road funding. Whereas only Marcellus Township, of Cass County's 15 townships, has voter-approved millage for local roads and none is provided countywide, Allegan is an example of voter support for roads. He said 22 of 24 townships in Allegan have township millages, and Allegan County levies a voter-approved 5 mills for road maintenance. Powers has said several times, however, that he believes that fuel taxes are the only fair way to fund road maintenance. The local road commission receives the majority of its funds from state fuel taxes imposed on gasoline and diesel fuel, and from contract agreements it forges with townships, cities and villages. Krempac said he believes that if people were approached in the correct manner, if they know what they were going to receive for their tax dollars, and what services cost them, they would be more receptive to providing some funding. "You have to have a good game plan," he said.